My childhood backyard basketball court provided an area for some great but challenging hoops moments. In the early 70’s my dad mounted the backboard to the roof of an extended part of the house directly underneath the patio roof (and as of this article, still stands there today). The goal was over eight feet tall which meant two realities. One, we could dunk the ball in high school. Two, we had no arch for our outside shots. Because of the position of the goal, the court was far from symmetrical, opening up the left wing while bunching up the right side (when the ball touched the house, it was out of bounds). The closed-in quarters was perfect for up to two-on-two games.
My brother, David, and I played many games on that court, and he probably won most of them. He was three years older than me and that court played to his advantage. When he pressured the ball, I might have been able to get a step around him for a layup. When he backed off the ball, it forced me to shoot an outside shot, and with very little arch to the shot, he’d block it. His offensive approach was to back me down where he could sky-hook the ball into the hoops.
It wasn’t that David was a better ball player than me, it was that he was a bigger boy than me.
One day he came to me with a proposition that was an “out of the box” kind of idea. While some might remedy the imbalance by simply spotting me x-points to start the game, David thought differently.
Inspired by the NBA’s twenty-four second shot clock rule, he proposed that we play like there are twenty-four seconds left in the game and we have a five second shot clock. We’d be forced to speed up our play. He couldn’t back me down quickly and use his size and strength over me. The game gave me a fighting chance for equality by balancing the power. If I remember right, his idea worked and it executed the equality needed for our games.
David stumbled onto something theologically rich, especially when looking at what happened at the cross. By eliminating the disadvantages and grip sin has on our lives and by giving us the Holy Spirit, God creates a chance for equality in the fight against sin. Instead of losing every battle with sin, we’re given the power to stand against it, as John says, “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). Where we once faced defeat, we now can face victory.
But the call for equality stretches beyond the individual and works its way throughout the church. The church was set up as an equalizer among the people. Because we all belong to Jesus, we no longer view people in terms of status or strength (Gal. 3:28-29). I’m not a better Christian because of family connections, wealth, race, education, age, place of origin and/or using any earthly position as an advantage stands against Jesus’ work at the cross.
No clearer picture of the church’s equalizer appears than when we gather around the Table as one. As Paul points out, the one loaf (or one cup) represents the unity, oneness and equality found at the cross (1 Cor. 10:17). We’re all in this together and no one has a size advantage, either against sin or in a relationship with God.
My brother and I played many games under the “24” format, but it never translated to another venue. Open spaces was its own equalizers. No other place offers a chance for equality than when the church sits around the Table in need of Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)